Poverty Penalties and Poverty Traps

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Below are the poverty penalties and poverty traps that meet your search criteria. Many include a See related provisions prompt which searches our database for laws that may pertain to your result.

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State Statute Description/Statute Name Statutory language Type of poverty penalty or poverty trap Level of offense Mandatory
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Mississippi Miss. Code Ann. § 99-37-5(2) Payment and orders
(2) When a defendant sentenced to pay a fine or costs or ordered to make restitution is also placed on probation or imposition or execution of sentence is suspended, the
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court may make payment of the fine or costs or the making of restitution a condition of probation or suspension of sentence. Such offenders shall make restitution payments directly to the victim. As an alternative to a contempt proceeding under Sections 99-37-7 through 99-37-13, the intentional refusal to obey the restitution order or a failure by a defendant to make a good faith effort to make such restitution may be considered a violation of the defendant's probation and may be cause for revocation of his probation or suspension of sentence.
Incarceration All No
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Mississippi Miss. Code Ann. § 99-37-7(2) Contempt for default
(2) Unless the defendant shows that his default was not attributable to an intentional refusal to obey the order of the court or to a failure on his part to
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make a good faith effort to make the payment, the court may find that his default constitutes contempt and may order him committed until the fine or the restitution, or a specified part thereof, is paid.
Incarceration All No
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Oklahoma 22 Okl.St.Ann. § 983A Imprisonment or recommendation of suspension of driving privileges for failure to pay fines, costs, fees, or assessments--Hearing--Installments
Any defendant found guilty of an offense in any court of this state may be imprisoned for nonpayment of the fine, cost, fee, or assessment when the trial court finds
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after notice and hearing that the defendant is financially able but refuses or neglects to pay the fine, cost, fee, or assessment. A sentence to pay a fine, cost, fee, or assessment may be converted into a jail sentence only after a hearing and a judicial determination, memorialized of record, that the defendant is able to satisfy the fine, cost, fee, or assessment by payment, but refuses or neglects so to do.
Incarceration All No
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Oklahoma Okla. Stat. tit. 11, § 27-122 Enforcement of payment of fines or costs by imprisonment--Persons unable to pay
A. If a defendant who is financially able refuses or neglects to pay a fine or costs or both, payment may be enforced:1. By imprisonment until the same shall be
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satisfied at the rate of Twenty-five Dollars ($25.00) per day; or 2. In the same manner as is prescribed in subsection B of this section for a defendant who is without means to make such payment. B. If the defendant is without means to pay the fine or costs, the municipal judge may direct the total amount due to be entered upon the court minutes and to be certified to the district court in the county where the situs of the municipal government is located, where it shall be entered upon the district court judgment docket and shall have the full force and effect of a district court judgment. The same remedies shall be available for the enforcement of the judgment as are available to any other judgment creditor.
Incarceration All No
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Oklahoma Okla. Stat. tit. 11, § 28-123 Execution of sentence--Modification, reduction or suspension--Probation--Deferred sentence
. All sentences of imprisonment shall be executed by the chief of police of the city, and any person convicted of a violation of any ordinance of the city and
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sentenced to imprisonment shall be confined in the jail, farm or workhouse, of the city, in the discretion of the court, for the time specified in the sentence. All persons who shall be convicted in the court of violation of any ordinance of the city and sentenced to pay a fine and costs, who shall refuse to pay such fine or costs, shall be imprisoned in the jail of the city for one (1) day for each Two Dollars ($2.00) of the fine and costs assessed.
Incarceration All No
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Wisconsin Wis. Stat. § 973.07 Failure to pay fine, fees, surcharges, or costsor to comply with certain community service work.
If the fine, plus costs, fees, and surcharges imposed under ch. 814, are not paid or community service work under s. 943.017 (3) is not completed as required by the
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sentence, the defendant may be committed to the county jail until the fine, costs, fees, and surcharges are paid or discharged, or the community service work under s.943.017 (3) is completed, for a period fixed by the court not to exceed 6 months.
Incarceration All No
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Wisconsin Wis. Stat. § 800.095(1)(b) Nonpayment of monetary judgment
(b) 1. That the defendant be imprisoned until the forfeiture, assessments, surcharge, and costs are paid. If the court orders imprisonment under this subdivision, all of the following apply: a.
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The maximum period of imprisonment shall be 90 days for any one judgment, and the defendant shall receive credit against the amount owed at the rate of at least $50 for each day of imprisonment, including imprisonment following an arrest but prior to the court making a finding under subd. 2. b. The court may impose a term of imprisonment under this subdivision that is either concurrent with or consecutive to any other term of imprisonment imposed at the same time or any term of imprisonment imposed by any court. 2. No defendant may be imprisoned under subd. 1. unless the court makes one of the following findings: a. Either at sentencing or thereafter, that the defendant has the ability to pay the judgment within a reasonable time. If a defendant meets the criteria in s. 814.29 (1) (d), the defendant shall be presumed unable to pay under this subsection and the court shall either suspend or extend payment of the judgment or order community service. b. The defendant has failed, without good cause, to perform the community service authorized under this subsection or s.800.09. c. The defendant has failed to attend an indigence hearing offered by the court to provide the defendant with an opportunity to determine whether he or she has the ability to pay the judgment. d. The defendant has failed, without good cause, to complete an assessment or treatment program related to alcohol or drugs that was ordered in lieu of a monetary forfeiture. 3. a. Except as provided in subd. 3. b., the defendant shall be committed to a jail or a house of correction in the county in which the cause of action arose. b. The defendant may be committed to the jail in another county within or outside of the state if the other county borders the county in which the cause of action arose, and the monthly expenses charged to the municipality by the other county to imprison the defendant are at least 25 percent less than the monthly expenses charged by the county in which the cause of action arose, and the other county agrees to having the defendant committed to the jail in that county. c. The defendant shall be eligible for privileges under s.303.08 or a similar program in the other county if committed under subd. 3. b. The municipality shall pay the expenses incurred by the county to imprison the defendant.
Incarceration All No